Guilin or Xi'an?

Neither city has a coast, and you shouldn't plan a beach day in either. In Guilin's hot summers you can at least cool off in the shallows of the Yulong and Li rivers around Yangshuo. In Xi'an, the closest thing to a swim is a hot-spring resort pool in Lintong.

Xi'an is the better place to eat, and the difference starts with what's in the bowl. Its cooking is built on wheat: belt-wide biangbiang noodles, roujiamo buns and mutton soup with crumbled flatbread. The Muslim Quarter behind the Drum Tower is a whole evening of grazing in itself.

Guilin cooks with rice. A breakfast bowl of mifen with braised meat and fermented chilli is a real pleasure, and beer fish in Yangshuo and river snails add some range. Beyond these, the choice thins out quickly, and many restaurants near the sights cater to tour groups. Neither city does much in the way of wine, coffee or fine dining.

This is where the two cities are furthest apart. Guilin's sights are mostly hill parks and lit caves such as Elephant Trunk Hill and Reed Flute Cave. The Ming palace of the Jingjiang Princes' City and the calligraphy carved around Longyin Cave are its main historic pieces, and a day or two covers them.

Xi'an was the capital of thirteen dynasties, and it shows. The 14km wall survives complete, the Shaanxi History Museum runs from Zhou bronzes to Tang gold, and the Wild Goose Pagodas, the Daming Palace site and the courtyard-style Great Mosque could fill most of a week.

Evenings in both cities are spent outdoors, eating and strolling, but Xi'an has more to offer later on. Crowds fill the floodlit boulevard below the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Muslim Quarter, and the bars along Defu Xiang near the South Gate are good for a drink.

In Guilin, an evening means a walk around the lit lakes and a beer with skewers near Zhengyang Street. A louder night out means going to West Street in Yangshuo, which is busy but aimed squarely at tourists.

Guilin's scenery is the reason most people go there. Hundreds of limestone peaks line the Li River on the four-hour cruise to Yangshuo, past bamboo groves and fishing villages. Around Yangshuo you can cycle between the karsts or climb some of Asia's best-known sport-climbing rock, and the Longji terraces cover whole mountainsides to the north.

Xi'an sits on a flat, often hazy plain, and its nature is a trip away. The Zhongnan foothills of the Qinling, with Taoist temples and forest trails, are an hour south. Mount Hua's cliff paths make a thrilling day out, but green space within the city is limited to parks and the moat gardens.

Xi'an's best-known sight is itself a day trip. The Terracotta Army and the Tang hot-spring palace at Huaqing fit together east of the city, and the Qianling avenue of stone statues, the Hanyangling figures and Famen Temple lie to the west. Fast trains reach the Longmen Grottoes at Luoyang in about an hour and a half.

Guilin's outings are mostly about scenery and villages. You can go to Yangshuo, the stone lanes of Xingping or the old trading town of Daxu. Further north are the ancient Lingqu Canal and the Zhuang and Yao villages among the Longji terraces. They are pleasant, but there are fewer of them, and none has the weight of Xi'an's tombs.

Both cities are manageable with children rather than built for them, and the difference is in what keeps children busy. In Guilin it is water and colour: bamboo rafting on the Yulong, the river cruise, the lit caves and flat cycling lanes for older children.

Xi'an offers bike rides along the top of the city wall, giant pandas and golden monkeys at the Qinling wildlife park, and evening lights at the pagodas. Little English is spoken in Guilin, and many of Xi'an's museums are aimed at adults.

Xi'an is the easier city to move around. Its grid-plan walled centre is walkable, and a large metro with English signage runs to the pagodas, the stations, the airport and out to Lintong, close to the Terracotta Army.

Guilin's centre around its lakes is pleasant on foot, but there is no metro, and the buses are signed mostly in Chinese. Most visitors rely on taxis and ride-hailing. The countryside, which is the reason to go, means a fast train to Yangshuo, a river cruise or a hired driver on winding roads to the terraces.

Xi'an has more worth taking home. Shuyuanmen, the lane inside the South Gate, sells brushes, ink stones and seals, and the Muslim Quarter sells shadow puppets, dried fruit and tea. The malls near the Bell Tower carry international brands.

Guilin's best buys are things to eat, drink or wear from the region: jars of chilli sauce, osmanthus tea, Sanhua rice liquor, and Zhuang and Yao brocade from the minority villages. The rest is mostly souvenirs and chain stores.

Both cities are very cheap day to day, with low-cost noodles, taxis and comfortable hotels, and in both the real spending goes on admission fees. In Guilin these are the river cruise, the caves and the hill parks. In Xi'an they are the Terracotta Army, the wall and the large tomb and palace sites. Where your money goes differs too: Guilin's best value is a guesthouse in the Yangshuo countryside, while Xi'an's is a good hotel inside the wall.

Xi'an has a little more that isn't made for visitors. Alongside its Tang dinner shows and the hillside spectacle at Huaqing Palace, you can hear Qinqiang, the raw Shaanxi opera, in small theatres and parks. There is also drum music and shadow puppetry, and the city has a symphony orchestra and a provincial theatre.

Guilin's big evening is Impression Liu Sanjie, an open-air show on the Li River at Yangshuo with the peaks lit up behind it. Beyond that it has acrobatics, folk dance and occasional Gui opera.

Neither is a spa destination, and both have hot springs a short trip away and cheap massage on every street. Guilin's springs are at Longsheng near the rice terraces, about two hours away, but its real calm is a guesthouse among the fields outside Yangshuo. Xi'an has the Tang emperors' springs at Lintong, bathhouses with saunas in town, and quiet temple courtyards and the wall early in the morning.